Page 276 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11
And it was almost like it was Sophie’s soon-to-be wrath. I couldn’t even say it out loud. And I wasn’t sure she’d believe me even if I could form the words. She needed to see it for herself. I pulled out my phone and hit play where I’d paused the video.
Sophie’s jaw actually dropped. “No.”
“I’m so sorry, Soph.”
She grabbed my phone from me and stared in horror at the footage. “The mascot is Mr. Halifax?” Her voice cracked.
I nodded, but she wasn’t looking at me.
“Mr. Halifax is the mascot?”
It was the same statement, just worded differently. I understood her shock. But why was she not freaking out right now? Because I had been internally freaking out for hours. I expected her to scream or something. Or toss my phone into the fire. This whole thing was such a betrayal and I hadn’t even meant to do it. Yeah, I definitely felt sick.
“So...Mr. Halifax is your kiss thief?” she said slowly.
I nodded again. “Sophie, I swear I had no idea. I...I don’t even like him. I...what the actual hell?”
“What kind of disgusting teacher makes out with a student?” she said and shoved my phone back into my hands.
Um... That was a turn I didn’t expect. She’d been trying to make out with him all year. And it was also kind of an insult to my dad since technically my mom had been one of his students. God, everything suddenly felt so messy.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But why the heck would Mr. Halifax kiss me? And text me all this stuff?”
She shook her head. “I guess grown ass men play games too.”
“What?”
“He’s clearly trying to make me jealous by making out with my best friend.” She downed the rest of her drink too.
“Soph...” My phone buzzed. I looked down at a new text from the kiss thief. “Ah! It’s him.”
“What did that little asshole say?”
I read her the text: “You look beautiful right now. But you’d look even better in my jacket.” I looked up at Sophie. “He’s here.”
“I can’t wait to give Mr. Halifax a piece of my mind,” Sophie said. “Where is he?”
But we looked around and didn’t see him anywhere. While we had been immersed in the footage of the locker room, the party had gone into full swing. There were several bonfires lit. The fire and smoke obscured our view a bit. But we made our way through the woods and didn’t see one sign of Mr. Halifax. Just a bunch of drunken students.
Which made sense. Why would Mr. Halifax be here?
“Seriously, where is he?” Sophie said.
I looked back down at the text. “Sophie, what would Mr. Halifax even mean by his jacket? The kiss thief is obviously talking about a varsity jacket in this text. And Mr. Halifax wouldn’t come to a high school party.”
Sophie just stared at me.
“All the texts the kiss thief sends mess with my head. But his texts about being a mascot were worded very weirdly, remember? He said he was the mascotthatday. Remember we thought he stole the costume?”
“Maybe...”
“And I’ve sent the kiss thief more pictures since then. And he’s never sent one back. If he had the costume on hand, wouldn’t he just keep sending me funny pics of himself in that?”
Sophie exhaled slowly. “That’s true.”
“Definitely true.” I mean...I hoped. I didn’t want to have made out with my teacher! Especially accidentally. “My kiss thief is on the football team. I’m sure of it.” I wasn’t really sure. But I desperately wanted it to be true.
Sophie nodded. “You’re probably right. Mr. Halifax would never do that to me. I know he’s playing hard to get. But playing hard to get and hooking up with my best friend are two different things entirely.”
